There are different methods of engraving or cutting substrates in order to shear webs of low-strength materials, such as rubber, fiber, foil, cloth, paper, corrugated fiberboard, paperboard, plastics, pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes, foam and sheet metal. One cost effective method of cutting substrates such as paper, card stock, mylar, vinyl, and the like comprises the use of cutting plotters. Cutting plotters use knives to cut into a substrate that is lying on the flat surface work area of the plotter. These cutting plotters may be connected to a computer equipped with specialized cutting design or drawing computer software programs which are able to send the necessary cutting dimensions or designs to the plotter in order to command the cutting knife to produce the correct project cutting needs into the substrate. Such tools allow desired shapes to be cut into a substrate very precisely, and repeated perfectly identically.
While cutting plotters are able to cut intricate designs in a substrate, they often rely on printers to apply graphics, indicia, and color applications initially onto the substrate. The substrate may also comprise one or more registration marks which may be optionally printed by the printer and used to align the substrate in a cutting plotter. Once the substrate has been printed, it may then be placed into a cutting plotter to make desired cuts, perforations, scoring, and the like onto the substrate. Unfortunately, once a substrate has been printed, the printing may interfere with detection of the registration marks on the substrate leading to inaccurate cutting and/or lost time and materials.
Therefore, a need exists for novel substrates for printer engraving. There also exists a need for novel methods of printer engraving. There is a further need for novel substrates and methods for use with printers and with automated engraving or cutting devices. Finally, there exists a need for novel substrates and methods for print engraving that do not interfere with detection of the registration marks on the substrate leading to inaccurate cutting and/or lost time and materials.